What Is The First Battle Of El Alamein?

The Battle of El Alamein between the Allies and Axis powers was fought in two separate battles (Phillips, 1962). The Allies consisted of primarily British soldiers known as the Eight Army. In addition to the British soldiers, the Allies also consisted of soldiers from Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, France, and Greece. The Axis known as the Panzerarmee Afrika (later renamed German-Italian Panzerarmee) consisted of only German and Italian soldiers. Both battles were fought in El Alamein, Egypt as part of the Western Desert Campaign of World War 2. El Alamein is located in the Egyptian desert 150 miles west of Cairo along the Mediterranean Sea (Harney, 2014). The First Battle of El Alamein took place from 01-27 July 1942, followed by the Battle of Alam El Halfa from 30 August–05 September 1942,
Despite a virtual tactical draw, the First Battle of El Alamein resulted in a strategic victory for the Allies. This victory for the Allies prevented the final advance by the Axis powers into El Alamein. On 30 August 1942, the Battle of Alam El Halfa began as Rommel launched an attack on the Eighth Army from the southern sector of the El Alamein front (Harney, 2014). Knowing the importance of North Africa and the Suez to the Allies, Rommel launched his attack. He knew if the Axis were able to overtake the area that would result in the Allies losing one of their last ways to get supplies. Also, gaining control of the Suez would have given Germany complete access to the oil reserves of the Middle East. With only receiving roughly one third of their required supplies, Rommel still ordered the attack. Despite the shortage of supplies, Rommel knew matters would get worse as the Allies would have full access to their needs and supplies. Rommel felt he had to impede the Allies from having full access to receiving